11 posts tagged “web 2.0”

Now this is an interesting look at a case of business use of social media and in particular Web 2.0 tools such as micro-blogging tool, Twitter in order to raise awareness of a specific cause.

The Salvation Army, known for its door knocks and Red Kettles (red donation buckets and collections) during the holiday period and typically targeting the older generation for donations, recently launched an Online Red Kettle campaign and a Red Kettle Twitter channel as a new means to encourage donations.

This online program is allowing the Salvation Army to reach out to a younger generation and engage and recruit younger donors and potential volunteers for the cause. Twitter is proving to be a great news distribution channel allowing the company to send out viral updates and promote the Red Kettle online program. Through this program, donors are even able to donate virtually and encourage friends and family to donate online to the kettle they have set up.

The Salvation Army Twitter Channel already has 557 people actively following its updates as well as being broadcast publicly across the micro-blogging site. The Online Red Kettles campaign has a national goal to raise $1,000,000 and last time I checked it was at $926,634.05.

You can check out more information on the Red Kettle campaign here.

It's good to see the Federal Government adopting Web 2.0 tools such as blogging in order to democratise the conversation on the future of Australia's digital economy.

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy and Minister for Finance, Lindsay Tanner have launched a trial blog to get the opinions and thoughts of the public on the topic.

This blog will help with the development of the 'Future directions paper for the digital economy' that is being created by the Australian Government. This paper has been described on the joint blog as "a roadmap for Australian businesses, households and government to maximise participation in the digital economy."

The blog will explore themes from what the digital economy includes, how the digital economy can respond to environmental concerns, how can the success of Australia's digital economy be measured and how to maintain a 'civil society' that experience offline in the real world in an online world. This last topic is particularly interesting as it is likely that it will raise the issue of filtering content and moderation on the blog. What public comments will be uploaded to the blog? Which ones will be dismissed? Moderated content lessens the democracy of a blog.

This is one of the first times that the Australian Government has adopted Web 2.0 tools to engage with the public. I encourage this and hope we see more of this across the board.

If you have a point of view, jump on and get blogging.

A colleague recently asked me how her clients can integrate social media and web 2.0 into their organisations in order to more effectively work on collaborative projects across mobile workforces. What tools help close geographical borders within organisations? Are there easier ways to communicate other than back-and-forth email, telephone and IM that helps employees share work internally? I figured I would address these questions in a public forum.

As we all know and have heard time and time again, the use of web 2.0 tools in the enterprise is becoming more important and increasingly evident. It facilitates an environment where workers are less constrained by geographic borders, allowing them to communicate and collaborate across dispersed workforces (whether it be different offices, states, countries with relative ease).

There are particular tools that give employees have access to content that helps them be more productive in their job function. Tools such as wikis are helping organisations promote and share talent, IP, experience, case studies, learnings and so forth.

I would make the suggestion for organisations wishing to foster a culture of sharing and collaboration that they take a plunge by implementing an internal Wiki. A wiki is a site that allows you to create, edit and share content easily with one another. A great example is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia created and edited by citizen journalists (you and me).

An internal wiki would allow employees to manage work documents efficiently. Allows one to create, edit and link documents that they’re working on. This allows you to track a history of changes to documents and the people that made particular changes. It's a much more efficient and user-friendly system - and is definitely easier than storing down multiple versions of the same document.

This about the documents that you have saved to your work folders. I guarantee if you're anything like me that you have versions titled .final, .FINALFINAL, .v2, .v3, .v3LK_edits and the list goes on. Every Tom, Dick and Harry adds their flavour to a press release (for example) and all of a sudden you are stretched to figure out which is the 'REAL' final document.

From my knowledge as well, a company intranet can be hosted on a wiki - although I look to my blogging community to back me up or knock me down on this one. 

Another fabulous Web 2.0 tool is RSS or 'Real Simple Syndication'. I would have to say that this is one of the most underestimated tools to date. It complements other Web 2.0 tools. For example, using an internal wiki, all employees would be able to subscribe to an RSS feed - which is basically a web feeds. This means if changes are made to the wiki, the new content would be sent directly to the employee (can be in the form of an email update) with a link and possibly even a summary of the content changes. This enables employees to decide whether they want to click through to the site. This means that employees do not have to manually log on to the wiki every so often to check whether amends to internal documents have made been made.

I’d like to build a list of wiki software that exists in Australia (and costs). If anyone has any insight, I invite you to share them with me.

In another interesting exploration of Twitter and its uses comes this article on Film School Rejects titled "The 8 most entertaining fake Twitter users." Similar to the increasing popularity of fake blogs (think Fake Steve which has since become The Real Dan Lyons), it appears as though people are using this micro-blogging tool to maintain the popularity and notoriety of famous celebrities and TV/ movie stars even well past its expiration date (that is when TV series have discontinued and/ or movies have well and truly left the box office).

In most instances famous TV and movie characters are being perpetuated on the site, along with their nuances and catch phrases being conveyed to fans across the site. Some of the ones listed in the article include the famous Borat (Sasha Baron Cohen), Dr. Tobias Funke (Arrested Development) and Roger Sterling (new show, Mad Men).

The interesting observation to make here is how marketing/ comms. can use Web 2.0 tools such as Twitter to push out characters from new TV series and movies in order to generate buzz around them and build up a larger and truly global fan base. We have already seen this on blogs - although I think Twitter is a faster and more effective approach for this.

I have mentioned the benefits of using social bookmarking sites before but I think it's beneficial to mention it again - mainly people seem to be more receptive to using online Web 2.0 tools these days. And more and more, we are seeing people use these tools in a professional sense.

For example, PR practitioners and journalists in Australia are now frequenting Twitter as part of their daily grind. Journalists are using Twitter to put a shout out for spokespeople for stories they are writing. PR practitioners are shouting out news announcements and interview opportunities in a bid to get media interest.

Back to social bookmarking sites... There are sites such as Digg and Del.icio.us which are great tools that let you share and find content, including video and news articles, from anywhere on the web.

I'm a great fan of Digg. For those newbies out there, a ‘digg’ is similar to a favourite.

The content on Digg is submitted by the consumer and is voted on by other consumers. The more ‘diggs’ you get on content that you have uploaded, the higher up it climbs in the Digg  ranks. If you're content is absolutely fabulous and many people are 'digging' it, it can even be promoted to the front site page for millions of site visitors to see.

Digg is a fantastic example and proof point of a successful online community!

Leveraging these sites as a PR professional or a journalist

PR professionals

If you receive a fantastic piece of online media coverage for a client of yours, you can upload it to Digg. You will then be asked to submit the content along with a title, description and a tag that is suitable for the content.

What are the benefits? More journalists today are using social bookmarking sites to research specific categories. And It's a tool you can use to try and generate additional media coverage for a client. 

Journalists

If you aren't already doing so, I would suggest that you join Digg. Upload your published online content to the site. By submitting stories here you are extending your reach to a truly global audience. You can even build a cult following in Digg - those that will get to know and love your stories, read them and share them on with others.

Bloggers are using Digg as part of their daily beat as well. Increasingly, we are seeing instances of where bloggers or journalists pick up others news stories from Digg and reference it in their blogs - increasing the popularity of the story and the site origination.

I encourage you all to set up a Digg account and start experimenting. I'd love to hear your thoughts on social bookmarking sites? Can it really work to leverage stories? Can you really generate additional media coverage by submitting content to the site?

I'm looking forward to the Frocomm New Media Summit in Melbourne today. Shortly I'll be heading off here with one of my MDs, Graham White, and then it is back-to-back sessions, keynotes and workshops till I return later this week.

The New Media Summit will cover off all things new and social media including what it is, why it is important, legal considerations, Web 2.0, blogging and how you can apply new media to your business to achieve desired business outcomes.

I'll be particularly interested to listen out for case studies and instances where companies have integrated social media strategies and report back on cases where it has and hasn't worked. Hopefully there will be some best practice examples and key learnings that I can share with you.

The first round Tuesday speakers include:

• Laurel Papworth, Director, World Communities and Social Networks Blogger
• Andrew Maiden, Director, Media Relations, Telstra
• Greg Roebuck, Managing Director & CEO, carsales.com.au
• Mary Henderson, Founder/CEO, Geek IT Group
• Richard Lord, Chief Marketing Officer and COO, Hyro
• Tom Martin, Cirector, Strategic Communications, Department of Premier & Cabinet
• Michael Park, Senior Associate, Deakons' Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group
• Guy J Cardavlho, CEO, BrandAide Communications
• Kirsty Shaw, Director, Fairfax Digital and GM, Stayz
• Kate Torney, Head of Asia Pacific News, ABC
• Ben Wise, Online Editor, 3AW
• Simon Johanson, Online Editor, The Age
• Brian Semmens, Night Editor, Herald & Weekly Times
• Alan Parker, DIgital Media Specialist, Burson-Marsteller
• Corrie McLeod, Managing Director, Espresson Communications
• And our very own Graham White, Managing Director, Howorth, Ogilvy PR Australia
• And our very own Scott Rhodie, Media Manager and Digital Strategist, Pulse Communications, Ogilvy PR Australia

I will be posting regular updates to my blog, the Howorth website and of course to Twitter. Please feel free to comment on any of the information that I post. Looking forward to it!

Watch this space!!

So I've been toying around with Twitter a lot more these days. So much so, I have been abandoning my blog. I think more and more we will start to see the quality of blog posts decline with the emergence of microblogging - thanks to Web 2.0 tools such as Twitter. Twitter gives you the option to update your network/ neighbourhood on what you are doing in a mere 140 characters.

The instantaneous nature of this means that you can easily update those that are following you on what you are up to and track what others are up to as well. I was originally critical of Twitter but I am starting to find it more useful in a professional work sense. In fact, in my perception it is taking over Facebook  as one of the most valuable social networking sites.

The interesting thing here for me is that you can apply it to every day work. My Twitter neighbourhood, albeit small, is a circle of PR people and journalists. The aim = to expand my small neighbourhood! Anyway, I digress...

Although many of the posts that we upload don't necessarily provide too much insight - I find out when people need to go to the bathroom, what they had for breakfast and when they are on the train but on several occasions it can really useful. You can pick up a lead on a story that a journalist is working on, what topics he/ she covers, when he/ she is going overseas, find out what they think of products they are reviewing and reporting on, what topics light a fire under them and so forth. It's a great way to keep your finger on the pulse and stay in contact. Now that I think about it more, I would actually compare this to LinkedIn - it seems to be quite valuable as a professional networking tool.

I'd be surprised if blog subscriptions weren't in decline due to the rise in Twitter feeds. This has strong implications for mobiles as well. These days, new and emerging technologies are mirroring the lifestyle trends of today's consumers'. As people want to access to real-time information from friends, access to news, entertainment, and be able to communicate from anywhere at anytime - we are finding that today's technologies such as mobile phones and web 2.0 tools such as Twitter are accommodating these needs.

Feel free to pipe up if you have some answers because I haven't done all my homework in this area. Are we seeing a trend now - as people become more time poor are we seeing blog posts getting shorter? Rather than well-researched, quality blog posts - are these increasingly becoming short excerpts and randon bursts of one's thoughts?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this...

A really interesting IDC study, titled "The Hyperconnected: Here They Come" was released this month which talks about the exploding "culture of connectivity" and the implications that hyper-connectivity has on the enterprise and business practices.

Whilst on a fact finding mission, another interesting point that I came across is that the global mobile workforce continues to grow unabated - IDC expects the global mobile worker population to increase from 758.6 million in 2006 to more than 1 billion in 2011, representing just over 30 percent of the worldwide workforce. [see more details here]

The thing that really struck a chord with me is that we are becoming a generation addicted to connectivity. We are seeing our younger colleagues enter the workforce as 'digital natives' (an idea widely discussed by Peter Sheahan) - they only understand communication via IM, email, text messaging, social networking and so forth. This is the 'conventional' that they seek and the 'unconventional' that the rest of us are all so keen to adopt. Today, we are spending more time connected and switched on in both our personal and work lives - so much so that we are now seeing a blurring between the two.

More and more people are starting to leverage Web 2.0 tools in business (a term coined Enterprise 2.0) such as shared wikis, IM and social networks in order to better facilitate information sharing and collaboration between workers and provide a competitive edge to those businesses that embrace it.

I think we will see Enterprise 2.0 increasingly extend beyond the office as wireless technologies such as in-built 3G, WiFi and WiMAX become faster and more efficient for business users to access personal internet on-the-go, and as mobile devices become sleeker and lighter for users to carry with them.

The IDC study predicts that "hyperconnected business users will likely rise to 40 percent in five years". Another five years down the track, I am sure we will see a substantial increase on this figure. Application and web developers, mobile device/ notebook manufacturers and telecommunications providers will need to cater towards making this hyper-connected experience for users a more seamless one.

Watch this space!  

A survey commissioned by PR firm, Ketchum, has found that the number 1 source of influence on consumer decision making is advice from family and friends. Despite the evidence that suggests this, only 24% or communicators surveyed actually have a word of mouth program in place for clients.

Another disconnect uncovered is that consumers rank company websites as the 6th most effective way to share information, however as PR professionals, we still place heavy emphasis on on using this as the main vehicle to communicate with consumers.

Other Findings:

• Consumers in emerging markets (such as Brazil, Russia, India and China) just may be setting the speed/ consumption for media use. These consumers are media/ tech-savvy, accessing more mobile media, and deeming media outlets as more credible than the US
• Media preferences are more personalised then ever
• As expected, search engines continue to be a gateway to consumer choice in information, with 60% of US consumers using them to find information

So, as PR practitioners, what can we take away from these findings...

• Audiences need personalisation. We do not communicate in a one-for-all masses manner. We need to relate to consumers by creating meaningful/ relevant/ authentic content and providing context that motivates them to share amongst peers. Quantity of media impressions should be merely one element of a campaign, not its focus
• Implement online strategies for clients that encourage word of mouth. This is crucial, given the survey findings. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is also critical, given that this is typically the starting point most consumer take when searching for information. Without these, there are bucket loads of opportunities, potential customers/ sales go out the door
• A company's own website should not be the first choice when communicating to consumers. Despite the company website being a breeding ground for corporate messaging, the survey findings prove that this is not the first place that consumers will visit when looking for information
• Add some variety to your client projects and avoid becoming reliant on any one particular social media strategy, as research suggests the impact of these are often in flux

For more information on the survey sample or findings, click here.

It was only ever going to take so long, MySpace UK has recently added a page called Earwig that regonises and promotes emerging musicians. It is in its essence a creative talent hub for these musical folk. Once added as a friend to your MySpace profile, it allows you to stay in tune with the latest talent, also giving you the option to socialise in this creative circle. Earwig is currently acting as a hub to engage like-minded people, but also brings with it the potential to grow and become a breeding ground for PR/ marketing, acting as a gateway for these musicians to the world.

People with an interest or talent for music no longer have to sift through MySpace in order to find the latest and greatest. Earwig filters the latest talent that breaks through via MySpace each day, delivering only the best to its audience.

Earwig is one of many similar services offered my social networking sites today to unearth talent. Take for example Sony's Crackle, previously known as Grouper. This site was transformed from a video aggregator site similar to that of YouTube, Go Fish, Revver, Aniboom and so forth and is now a creative talent hub for showcasing the best video programming of aspiring actors/ directors/ producers and so forth.

Today, fame can be achieved instantaneously. It no longer needs to be a long, arduous process to stardom, and no longer is it required to reach out to a local audience before taking on the big bad world. The internet and Web 2.0 tools today is giving us the megaphone to a global stage.

What will be the next phenomenon?